


Previously on The Librarians and the Archangel’s dilemma

by LadyMarianne123



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29611446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMarianne123/pseuds/LadyMarianne123
Summary: A quick take - meant to be read after the Librarians and the Archangel's dilemma - to get a perspective of what MIGHT have happened of originaol characters from that story had come into the library after Nicole had managed Jenkin's death.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Previously on The Librarians and the Archangel’s dilemma

Stone and Jones solemnly covered the body of their caretaker as Baird and Cassandra watched. The Trial had ended - and so had their dreams. Their shock and grief at the horrifying ending of the test to see who should be the Librarian tethered to the library was so intense they couldn't see anything around them - even when time itself slowly halted and the library became a stage for new players.

"What has happened here?" Arthur's voice growled as he stepped out of the door to the Great Empty. "Who is that under that shroud?"

"I fear it maybe your friend Galahad" Rowan's voice replied quietly. She stepped carefully through the fog to stand at her King's side. "It would explain a few things."

"Like why, all of a sudden, this great mausoleum to knowledge suddenly stopped answering our calls" Khan said, sweeping his staff in front of his as he too stepped into the Library's meeting area. 

"Now that we're here - can you make it speak to you?" Rowan asked, laying a gentle but restraining hand on Arthur's arm. Her brother's eyes had gone flame red as he took in the scene frozen in her time-stopping spell and she feared his anger would shatter what little peace her magic had brought to the event.

"On it" Khan replied, looking up at the ceiling. "Talk to me you mutt" he muttered viciously, leaning his staff against the wall "or the burning of the Library of Alexandria will look like a sunny day on the beach in comparison to what I'll do to you."

Rowan looked quizzically at her middle brother then out the door. "Boys - something is not right here. Someone is standing in the shadows, waiting for the Librarian's to do... something."

Arthur glanced over his shoulder with a frown. "Isn't that Flynn's old guardian? I remember Judson mentioning something about a guardian that had gone AWOL. What was her name - Nicole...?"

"Nicole Noone" Rowan replied, staring at the frozen figure in the shadows. "There is a dark aura around her as though she has chosen a path that were better not taken. Interesting."

"How is it that Flynn was assigned a new guardian?" Khan asked, eyeing the still figure in the shadows. "What was wrong with the one he had?"

Arthur shrugged. "Galais told me there was a major cluster fuck with an assignment that ended up throwing her back in time and space where Flynn couldn't reach her. That was why he was without a guardian for so long before Baird was chosen."

"Somehow clusterfuck sounds more like what you would call it then Galahad" Rowan teased gently. "But still - if she had been stranded in time why is it that with all the knowledge in this place and as annoyingly single-minded as Flynn Carson can be - why is it that the library did not try harder to retrieve her?"

"Because her fate was prophesied" Khan rumbled, looking away from the ceiling and back at his siblings. "Seems she was meant to be stranded in time - and to turn dark in the process. In the process of trying to save herself the guardian figured out how to extend her life, making her almost immortal, the better to live to see the present day and strike out at Flynn and the Library for abandoning her. Your buddy Galahad managed to track her down after she had stolen any number of artifacts from the Library and has been holding her in a cell in one of the lower levels here for ages. He was trying to stop her strikes at this place by keeping her contained. I get the impression that Judson knew but didn't want to take a stand, leaving it to Galahad to figure out how best to deal with her. And to make matters worse it seems Flynn only just found out about it and freaked out at both Jenkins and the Library. Dude's been AWOL for a while now with no one in the group knowing where he's gone." He frowned, the young abbot's eyes turning as red as his older brother's. "Any bets she's the reason no one's seen Flynn for a while?"

"It would explain why there is no tethering ceremony going on" Rowan said with a frown. "I had some suspicions about Flynn having doubts about tethering with Baird despite his love for her. I wonder..."

"Wonder what?" Arthur asked coldly, his eyes riveted on the still figure under the cloth.

"Wonder if this was all meant to happen as one final test of this new multi-librarian configuration" Khan replied with a snort. "Yeah - pretty much. Seems Despite everything they've done, everything they've sacrificed the Library had doubts about all of them - even Flynn and Baird. So it devised one last test. One last chance for them to make a choice. The Spirit of the Library says Nicole thought she had manipulated it to make all of this come about - but really it was the Library that manipulated her. Or at least that's what it's trying to tell me. Personally - I think it's all a load of crap to cover for that fact that it started a clusterfuck rolling that it now can't contain." He glanced over at his sister and shrugged. "What? Just cause it's the GREAT LIBRARY doesn't mean it can't screw up now and again."

"I need a sitrep. What are we looking at here?" Arthur finally moved away from the still open door to the Great Empty, circling the still figures in front of him cautiously. "What happens now?"

Khan shrugged. "Even the Spirit of the Library isn't sure. If they chose to abandon this place the Library believes that all imagination, all light and free will can and will disappear from this reality - leaving it a cold, grey and joyless place."

"And if they chose to remain true to the Library?" Rowan asked thoughtfully.

"Then it believes that all of this will roll back to the moment weeks ago when Flynn and Baird SHOULD have been preparing to tether with it and everything else will not have happened." Khan fished his worry beads out of his pocket and began fidgeting with them - a sure sign of his anxiety.

"And Nicole?" Rowan glanced back at the still figure, her cat's eyes making out the slender, blond form of the former guardian. "Flynn has a type" she thought to herself. "Pity she didn't die in the past like she should have. It would have made this all so much easier to clean up."

"Unknown. The Library is leaving cleaning up of THAT little mess to Flynn." Khan frowned up at the ceiling. "It's not really as good with big picture things as it thinks it is."

"So - we, it seems, can not intervene now to clean up the mess this idiot Spirit of the Place has made of things." Arthur glanced up at the ceiling, wondering if the Library could or would hear him as it did his brother. "Well - that's just ducky isn't it. Tell me, little brother, what would this hunk of stone do if I decided to see this event as a threat to this reality in general and our world specifically?"

"Panic probably. What do you have in mind?" Khan asked, his voice gravely with concern.

"Let the little lab rats make their choices. It matters not to me - but if they chose to abandon their responsibilities then I will take that traitorous bitches head and mount it on a pike in the center of this grayed out world as a warning to those who seek their own safety and comfort above the lives of others."

"And if the Librarians chose to save the Library?" Rowan asked solemnly.

"Then I still take the bitches head and post it outside the annex door - a warning to all who would threaten this place and all it guards." Arthur smiled grimly, white teeth in a tanned face and fiery eyes. He moved smoothly around the table, pulling his King's sword from its sheath and stalking towards the still figure in the shadows.

"Should I be scared?" Khan whispered to his sister.

"I am" she replied, moving to intercept her eldest brother. "Arthur..."

"Have no fear my Queen" Arthur replied, laying the edge of his blade against the side of Nicole's neck. "I won't strike until this event has played itself out. But after that..."

"Come away my King' Rowan urged softly. "Come away with us back to our home. We will know soon enough what the outcome will be. No need for us to stand in the Great Empty and wait when we can be comfortable at home."

Arthur shrugged, sliding his blade back into its sheath. "As you wish." He strode to the table and gently folded back the cloth covering the deceased Caretaker. Arthur gently stroked the older man's hair and kissed his forehead with reverence. "I'll be back, little brother. And when I do return - things will be different. This I, the eternal Firebird, promise you." He pivoted on his heal and strode through the door into the fog, his siblings trotting after him. All around the library - time and grief began again.

\----  
Later on...

"Why, exactly, did you not send a message to me when this all began?" Arthur - the once and future king of legend - had asked, sitting on the edge of dais the Librarians had laid Jenkins on. The young king was in his formal robes, red flames in the form of a phoenix emblazoned on a gold silk tunic with dark pants and high leather boots. His blond hair was longer than when Jenkins had last seen him and the young king was now sporting the start of a beard and mustache reminiscent of his father's. "I know you lot like to take care of things on your own - but this surely would have come into my purvey as a danger not only to the library but to the world."

Jenkins sighed, knowing that though the King was years older then the Caretaker it was the knight who looked old and worn. And very, very tired of being on the receiving end of his King's disapproval. He grimaced as he struggled to sit up, wondering if being mortal now was always going to mean a struggle to do the things he had been able to do with ease. Before he had been tricked, before Nicole.... 'Arthur, let me explain..."

Arthur waved him off. "I'd rather not have this conversation right now. Ro, Khan and I have a prisoner to off-load on someone and the sooner I get that done the better. Besides which - my siblings and I are in need of a vacation and listening to either you or Flynn explain yourselves is not my idea of a good time."

Jenkins frowned. "A prisoner?" He glanced around the room and saw, to his utter astonishment, that the former Guardian was laying on the floor nearby trussed up like a Christmas goose. Her eyes flashed with hatred as she watched him rise, only change to abject terror as Arthur came into view. "Arthur - what have you done?"

"What I had to do to make sure this crap doesn't happen again" Arthur snarled. "What? You think I'm going to let Flynn just use one of the time devices in the Library to go back and "change everything" so there is a happy ending had by all? That's bull and you know it. All he would succeed in doing is changing how things shook out without this bitch interfering in how the Library operates. Do you honestly think that if she didn't "go dark" that things would be better because she hadn't taken a hand?"

"Well - yes" Jenkins admitted thoughtfully. "You always told me everyone is deserving of a second chance. And I know Mr. Carson would want to give her that. He blames himself..."

"Oh Bollocks Galahad!" Arthur snorted. "There is no way that human could have know how to help her when she got trapped in the past. Even his mentor could not find a way. And you - what are you blaming yourself for? Snatching her up and imprisoning her for her crimes? Really? You were far kinder to the witch than I would have been. Remember - I'm King of Fae. If she had been my prisoner I wouldn't have needed that stupid needle to take her immortality - or her life."

"Arthur, please! You're just angry - you know that the situation would have been different if she had the chance to make a life for herself in the past, if she had not turned into an enemy of the library!" Jenkins slid off the dais, confused by his friends fury. "Flynn just wants to give her that option, to see if she can retain the goodness that drew him to her. You, of all people, should understand..."

"You mean because my sister and I experienced the joy of having our lives turned upside down when God re-shuffled the deck and changed our fates? Maybe our lives got better, little brother, but I can tell you about at least two Archangels who are grieving the loss of the companions they loved. And a whole lot of missions that didn't get done because we weren't in the right place at the right time to complete them. Just like this - did you really think that if she didn't steal that one little needle designed to kill an immortal that Rasputin wouldn't still be out there, looking for it?"

"Is he?" Jenkins asked, aghast.

Arthur sighed in exasperation. "No - of course not. Rowan put the damn needle between his eyes and ended his miserable existence. But the point, little brother, is that things would not have automatically gone all blue skies and sunshine just because she didn't take the Dark Road. Something would always be broken, someone would always be hurt. Things wouldn't necessarily be better - they would just be different. If I had known what was going on I could have at least TRIED to mitigate the problems before they got this bad." Arthur's voice was almost a whisper now as he backed away from his friend, his face grim. "Do you know how it felt for me to come looking to see what was happing, why the Library wasn't answering our call only to find you DEAD! And this whole reality fading into grey? You're lucky I didn't kill her then. I should have..."

"Except that wasn't what was required." Khan's voice echoed in the small room as he and Rowan suddenly appeared. "It looks like the Librarians getting the crap beat out of them by the Library's tests was an important last step in their making the decision to BE Librarians." Both the abbot and the young queen were dressed in khakis and dark t-shirts with Rowan's proclaiming " Why have a princess when you can have a Shield Maiden covered in the blood of her enemies" emblazoned across the front of her shirt. Khan's shirt had a similar sentiment " Wear Your Tragedies as Armor not Shackles " across his broad chest

"Well that's lovely, isn't it?" Arthur snarled, glaring at the trussed up body at his feet. "So they have made up their minds. Happy days for them and the Library. Still doesn't absolve her of what she did."  
\---  
Moments later...

Baird looked up as Jenkins came bustling into the Library, talking about the Tethering Ceremony. "Jenkins is alive" she whispered to Flynn, who just stared at her with a frown. 

"We still have an issue to deal with" he began.

"If it's saving Nicole from herself..." Baird began hesitantly. "We both know that's a non-starter. You heard what Arthur said."

"He isn't the Librarian" Flynn replied stiffly. "He doesn't get to make the rules."

"Actually, yes he does" Baird admitted quietly. "He's King - and his people could be in as much danger from Nicole's antics as we were. There's no guarantee your solution would solve anything. If anything - it could make things more complicated."

"By creating alternate timelines" Stone said, moving closer to the couple. "It's something Khan and I talked about once over a couple of beers. Arthur was right. Every action creates another path, another reality as it might have been. Nicole going dark was THIS reality's path - changing that might undo a lot of things that happened while she was plotting against us. Some of those things - like that living forest we helped save - needed to happen. We might remember those events but we won't have the same motivation going into the events that we did the first time around. Things won't be the same and so the outcomes won't be the same."

"He as much as said he's execute her for her actions" Flynn protested.

"He was pissed off and rightly so" Baird replied. "I'm betting Rowan and Khan can provide options for him to get the same results without the bloodshed. And if they can't their father can and most probably will." She straightened her back and looked around at Jenkins and the others. "So - are we doing this Tethering thing or not?"  
\----  
Many miles from the Annex a secretary looked up at the woman entering the office of the McCabe Learning foundation with a smile. "Can I help you?"

"I'm here for an interview" the woman, a pretty blond wearing stylish clothes and sensible shoes, replied. "For the position as an analyst with the Foundation?"

The Secretary looked down at her desktop calendar and smiled. "Oh yes - you would be Ms. Noone, correct? Ms. McCabe will be with you in a moment. Have a seat."

In the shadows between one reality and another three beings watched as two beings - one a former Guardian and enemy of the Library and the other once the most evil of all sorceresses - prepared to meet. "Not sure this was such a great idea" Khan rumbled, leaning on his staff.

"Neither remembers anything of their previous lives and neither has any of the power they once wielded against the innocent. Allowing them to meet isn't much of a threat and it keeps them both together in one spot. Easier for my friends to keep an eye on them." Rowan adjusted her cloak with care, shivering slightly in the dampness of the Great Empty.

Arthur looked down at his sister with a grim smile. "I don't think I want to know which of your "friends" you've roped into this little surveillance job. And I agree with Khan that this might not be the best idea you've ever had. But for now - I'm willing to let it ride." He turned and stepped back through the glowing doorway into their realm, followed by his brother. 

Rowan looked back once more at the two women as the job interview progressed. "Probably not a good idea but better than you having their blood on your hands. After all that has happened - I think a little piece before the next apocalyptic event would be a good thing." She stepped into the doorway as the Great Empty closed around the window into the Library's reality, allowing time to flow as it should have before.

**Author's Note:**

> Power has been out here for 4 days so figured I needed something to get me moving. This was it. Hope it makes sense.


End file.
